When people get snooty or unpleasant, try to remember that they must be good people who are just having a bad day.

Yesterday, I had what Chris Pearson would identify as a blog moment.

It made me realize that first statement above.

It was mid-afternoon and I just finished lunch with folks from the office.

We were lined up for the elevator since our office was in the 6th floor.

When the elevator reached the ground floor, there were still two ladies who were supposed to go down to the basement.

Of course, it would be customary to just wait for the elevator to go back up from the basement before we board. But knowing how our elevators have a habit of missing the ground floor and making us wait forever, we just started to file in.

The elevator got a bit jampacked.

When we reached the basement, the ladies got out and one of them made a snide remark very much within earshot of everyone in the elevator. Obviously, she was annoyed. “It’s as if you’ll run out of elevators.”

Everyone looked at each other and made their own remarks too. “Maybe she hasn’t experienced waiting forever for elevators before. How snooty.”

I caught a glimpse of the lady and if I remember it right, I had met her years ago.

She was actually kind and down to earth as far as I knew her and it seemed unlikely that she would do such a thing.

Then again, maybe I just don;t know her that well.

Or she may just be having a really bad day.

When good people have bad days

I’m pretty sure we’ve all had those bad days when nothing seems to go right. We tend to get annoyed at the “small stuff.” And we end up blowing off our steam on other people.

And yes, good people can have bad days too but that doesn’t mean they’re totally bad.

Maybe the woman was right, it would have been good manners if we had just waited for the elevator to go up.

Maybe we were right too, filing inside the elevator and taking a little round trip was better than having to waste time waiting in case the elevator misses the ground floor again.

Either way, it’s better to just cut each other some slack.

One thing I always try to remember is:

It’s better to be kind than to be right.

The next time someone scowls, makes a snide remark or is just generally unpleasant, try to imagine them smiling at you.

Maybe you could smile at them too, their day might just turn for the better because of it.

Photo credit: The good and bad by Nimir-Ra